Ju-on

Mojo2k

I watched the american version of this movie (The Grudge) and thought it was pretty good, so i decided to rent the original japanese version of it (directed by the same director that did the japanese version). I was not expecting a whole lot because personaly i found the american version of "The Ring" to be much better than the shallow underdeveloped japanese original. and man was i suprised.. this may in fact be the scarriest movie i have ever seen. and up next to it man does the american version seem WEAK. its obviously contorted to meet american standards. The original is more of a collection of short stories about people who have come in contact with the house, split up into completely boxed off sections, the american version kinda just jumbles these all together to try and make one continuous story, and the bits that were too far removed from the main chunk got left out. also he forced in a "main character" (sara michelle geller) whos character in the original was just another aspect to the over all story, oh and in typical holly wood manner, you can't have a movie without a love interest, so hey lets jsut invent a boyfriend out of thin air to throw in there for good measure overall review american version was pretty good, the original was a scare yourself shittless fest

gauss

i think i'd like to see the original japanese version, those crafty japanese certainly have had a way about horror these last few years. i agree that the american version of the ring was a nice refinement on the original. your review of the american Grudge sounds like the OAV review of it i read, which described the movie as an almost mechanical exercise in spooking people, but not being as good of an overall film.

MoP

The original, Ju-On ... is fucking scary.
I have yet to see The Grudge at the cinema yet. Maybe soon!

[Deleted User]

I haven't seen the original yet, but I thought the American version was just kind of silly. It was like it should have been scary, but for some reason it wasn't. That might have been because they showed so many of the scare scenes on the commericials and previews though.

Fabool

None of the recent remakes have been any good in my opinion. Although the original Ju-on: The Grudge isn't that good anyway, the Ringu definetly beats the remake (shallow and underdeveloped? hardly..).

Next up, bad remakes of Dark Water (already saw the trailer for this one, and boy does it look gooood..) and Ringu 2, with a pretty face in the lead to pull in crowds - no thank you.

I'm really annoyed by hollywood's inability to come up with new original movies instead of having to remake every succesful foreign or classic movie. I mean, look at this guy. At least ELEVEN out of fifteen of the current/upcoming movies are remakes! It's just.. pathetic, if you ask me. I just really hope all the good foreign directors aren't pulled in by hollywood - we've all seen where that leads to with John Woo and co.

skankerzero

the original sucked.

bad lighting, cheesy make-up.

There's no way anyone can tell me the original was scarier or produced better. The story was too fragmented for my tastes as well.

We all laughed though it.

monster

skank, you're probably talking about Ju-on: The Curse which is a terrible made for TV movie with bad lighting.

I believe everyone else is talking about Ju-on: The Grudge:
http://www.apple.com/trailers/lions_gate/ju-on.html

...or maybe I'm wrong, who knows.

Rick Stirling

The original japanese Ju-on was great, I can't be arsed with seeing the remake - after the fuckawful hack they did "remaking" (ruining) Ringu.

Mojo2k

the original was fragmented, cause it was not a straight story, also it may not be produced better, hard to out produce holly wood who's answer to movie making is throw money at it till people will buy it

skankerzero

[ QUOTE ]
the original was fragmented, cause it was not a straight story,

[/ QUOTE ]

exactly.

The girl went to go see her student who had not been going to his class, and it was the little boy. He died 5 years earlier. So am I expected to believe that the ghost signed up for classes?

I'm sure it's Ju-on: The Grudge. Adam rented it last night.

I can also admit that alot of what I didn't find scary was because I saw the American version first, and therefore knew what to expect.

I also cannot get into a movie if the effects do not convince me of what I'm looking at. The little boy was basically covered in baby powder, and the mother ghost effects sucked really bad. I can say that effects don't mean everything, but they do indeed help keep the illusion in place.

Kevin Johnstone

I thought the US Ring was shit in comparison to the original, likewise with Rollerball, italian job, get carter, vanilla sky .. hmmm, i think I see a pattern.

America gets hard for ideas, America takes idea from other country, America doesn't 'get it', America ruins the story but adds nice effects and pretty people to it !

ta da!

Damn risk averse suits, they should have taken all the money they wasted on raping other cultures films and better funded talents like Mendes!

Makk

Yes..... I saw my precious a while ago, loved it very, very much.
Needless to when I heard there was a US version in the works, I was sceptical.
Trailer for it looks alright, but I wont expect much.

Hah, btw for a good prank, ring a friend up and do the scary voice thing. good fun

adam

After watching "Saw" I was in a kick to see more scary movies - and since I cannot stand Sarah Michelle Gellar - I watched Ju On. Dude, HOLY SHIT. Scary movie indeed - but I was more frightened with Saw than Ju On. However, Ju On is definitly in my 2nd place for scariest movies I've seen. If you go to Apple.com/Trailers and watch the Ju On trailer you should do so frame by frame (use your keyboards arrow keys). Some scary frames in that little trailer they have - its what made me interested in the movie in the first place.

Mooj: Any other scary Japanese movies you know of?

Mojo2k

brome: "the phone" is pretty good and "eye"

Justin Meisse

I bought Ju-on: the Grudge at a horror convention and just got around to watching it. It was bad, it had inappropriate lighting that totally took all the fear out of scenes that were supposed to be scary. Damn, I want my $15 back!

The funny part is that I watched the first 20 minutes dubbed in Thai by mistake, I'm so used to hearing Japanese & Chinese that I could tell something was off (plus the voice actors were really crappy)

Irritant

I find the dichotomy of views on American remakes vs foreign orginals more interesting than the films in question.

I saw The Grudge. It was o.k. I think the movie relied more on standard horror film scare tactics than story. It seemed a little slapped together.

Ring/Ringu - great story. The Ring gets the nod for me because it's just better made.

Don't get me wrong - I am a major fan of Japanese films - I own every single Godzilla movie made(up to Godzilla 2000, anyway). Now THERE was a case of an American remake that was horrible in comparison. That American Godzilla movie wasn't even a freaking Godzilla movie. It was about a big iguana or something